Citing financial mismanagement, five counties seek removal of Brunswick DA

Five Georgia counties have signed onto a request to remove Brunswick District Attorney Keith Higgins from office. They're alleging that Higgins has misused taxpayer funding, among other things. And this follows after more than a year of tension between Higgins and the counties his office oversees, with the counties alleging mismanagement and Higgins admitting to some mistakes while also citing the inability to hire enough staff. Jabari Gibbs has been reporting on this for The Current. He spoke with GPB's Peter Biello.

Peter Biello: Jabari, you write that "commissioners from the five counties" — that Glynn, Camden, Appling, Wayne and Jeff Davis — "believe Higgins' financial mismanagement and conduct have been so egregious that he represents 'an ongoing and escalating threat to the justice system and to the taxpayers of the Brunswick judicial circuit.'" So what do they claim he's done?

Jabari Gibbs: So, specifically they cite quite a couple of things. One of the chief complaints among the counties is that the DA has hired in excess without their approval.

Peter Biello: Hired in excess, meaning he hired too many people, essentially?

Jabari Gibbs: Too many assistant district attorneys. And essentially, that has been what is widely considered to be the catalyst for the budget overage that he owed to Glynn County, which is nearly a million dollars. And they say that this was one of the chief issues, along with the DA essentially not coming in and checking in with his financial department. ... He's supposed to have an accountant and an office manager who are overseeing his financials and are supposed to continually keep him — keep him briefed on how the office's financial health is, and the counties say that Keith has not done well as far as managing that department and he has essentially dropped the ball in that regard.

Peter Biello: I see. And what has DA Keith Higgins said about accusations that he hired too many people and that he wasn't keeping a close enough eye on the finances of the DA's office?

Jabari Gibbs: He does say that the buck stops with him. And he has acknowledged that some of the hiring that he did back in January of 2024 — essentially where he brought on a lot of DAs from neighboring circuits here in Coastal Georgia — he said that there may have been a little bit much. And he also says that he should have been briefed more frequently. But ... he also acknowledged that he is very dependent on his financial department to let him know if he can hire someone.

Peter Biello: So what has the impact been overall on the administration of justice in those counties?

Jabari Gibbs: First, above all, the DA has ceased to represent the state in juvenile court. So all of the five counties, the DA, he acts as the prosecutor in juvenile court and he has stopped doing that. And that has essentially led the counties to hire a private firm to prosecute juvenile crimes. And in addition to that, you know, we have over 2,400 pending felony cases throughout the entire circuit and the DA only has six prosecutors. So right now there are two prosecutors in Glynn, two prosecutors in Camden, one prosecutor in Wayne, and one prosecutor covering Jeff Davis and Appling County. So that has led to an incredible backlog of cases that would essentially be very, very difficult for the DA office to handle all together with the staff that he has right now and that has led to overpopulation in the county jails along the five counties and just a lot of people that are sitting in jail waiting to have their day — their day in front of the judge.

Peter Biello: So a complaint has been filed with the Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys Qualification Commission. Where do things go from here?

Jabari Gibbs: The PAQC will start initial investigation and that investigation will see if there is any merit to these claims. So, you know, obviously they'll be talking to individuals who are familiar with the situation and try to understand what the picture is. And what kind of escalates from there is after that initial investigation is conducted and they find that there is merit, and it's not dismissed, then it goes on to an investigative panel who will go through their steps to also find out if this situation has enough merit to go before another panel, which essentially has the ability to file charges, dismiss altogether, and if charges are filed, then the DA could be removed. But that is an incredibly long process and it's going to be incredibly difficult to do.